Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Six Call Center Strategies, Cloud Computing Strengths, Improving Call Center Knowledge

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Six Call Center Strategies, Cloud Computing Strengths, Improving Call Center Knowledge

Officials of Trillium Software say the company has decided to integrate Microsoft Dynamics CRM software into its data quality offerings for both on-premise and cloud environments using Windows Azure.

The Dynamics CRM’s Software Development Kit is intended to let users access data cleansing and matching capabilities in the Trillium Software System, Trillium officials explain, adding that it will give users real-time and batch enterprise data quality services -- “data will be evaluated and cleansed at the point of entry.”

"Microsoft Dynamics CRM is designed to offer a flexible and extensible framework to enable organisations like Trillium Software to integrate," said Mark Albrecht, director of Microsoft Dynamics ISV Strategy.

Read more here.

A recent Webinar, titled “Six Simple Strategies for Improving Schedule Adherence in your Call Center,” was offered in conjunction with Monet Software on Wednesday, May 11, at 2:00 in the afternoon on the East Coast, and 11 in the morning out on the West Coast.

According to Webinar organizers, of all the tough jobs related to managing a call center, one many people don’t think of is “the intricate calculations of proper forecasting,” as well as “the numerous iterations of coming up with the best schedule mix.”

In fact, Webinar organizers say, the hardest part may come “after the schedules are in place -- simply ensuring there is the right number of staff with the right skills in their seats at the right times of the day.”

It’s really a fairly difficult issue, simply covering the basics. Forget advanced tips and tricks for slicing and dicing data, how do you get staff to show up for work on time and stick to their planned break times?

Penny Reynolds, a Founding Partner of The Call Center School where she heads up curriculum development, will present practices on adherence, including such issues as how to quantify the cost and service implications of missing staff, identify ways to communicate and educate staff on the “power of one” in call center staffing, describe options for setting adherence performance goals and selling to the staff and identify the reasons why staff don't adhere to the schedule plan, among others.

Read more here.

Industry observer Chris Bucholtz recently put together a good list of ten ways cloud computing can help make your business stronger.

And for good measure, he tosses in a pretty good definition of the cloud as it is designed for actual users: “It’s a global, virtualized on-demand computing infrastructure and the software designed to take advantage of it. In many ways it’s like a computing utility; you pay on a monthly basis and for what you use."

Reduction of Up-Front Costs for You and Your Vendors. Unlike on-premise software, the price of deploying CRM, ERP and other applications in the cloud is far less, due to fewer hardware costs and the ability to buy the number of seats you need from month to month.

Universal Access for Remote Employees. On-premise software isn’t great for people working remotely or from home. In order to allow these remote workers to access the applications, you have to manage dial-in systems, security, VPNs and the other technical requirements of connecting outside of the Internet.

Read more here.

If you’re interested in providing good customer service, you know the importance of knowledge of a caller and caller attributes. If you don’t, well, you may have just discovered the reason your customer service isn’t as successful as you might wish it were.

You’re welcome.

Knowing who your caller is, either by name or by attribute, leads to action based on that intelligence. This is the foundation of personalized call handling, according to a treatment of the subject posted on VoltDelta’s site.

The benefits of this, of course, are that more rapid call handling combined with a superior contact experience is likely to result, as the agent is rendered much more capable of resolving a call when they don’t have to ask callers all those questions we all dislike so much -- “Can you give me your account number again, even though you’ve entered it in the IVR twice already....”

VoltDelta’s LSSiDATA business unit, in fact, is focused on just this problem. Their focus is aggregating and updating caller data on a daily basis.

Read more here.



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